Every year there is a lot of planning that goes into the week-long Biking For Babies National Ride. Each team has to know where they are going, the route they are taking to get there, and what events are planned for that evening. There is an incredible amount of organization that goes into getting this all done before day one of the ride. On each day, the route leaders must have a tight schedule if they want to make it to their final destination on time.
For those of you who have either been on the National Ride or have followed along in previous years, you probably know how easy and often the schedule is changed, modified, or otherwise thrown out the window. Flat tires, missed turns, and bad weather can all cause delays for an unknown amount of time. It may seem like all that planning has gone to waste, but is it possible God is trying to teach us a bigger lesson through the experience?
The book of Acts is Luke’s sequel to his Gospel. It tells of the growth of the early Christian church from Jerusalem out into the world. If the apostles had any strategic plans on the best way to reach out into the world with Gospel, they are thrown off constantly throughout the book. The apostles are persecuted, shipwrecked, imprisoned and more. At points where it seems like a breakthrough is happening, bad events are right around the corner. But the apostles never gave up trusting that God was working His plan through their difficulties.
The persecution drove them out of Jerusalem and spread them out into the world of the Gentiles, allowing more souls to come to faith than if the apostles would’ve stayed in their comfort zone in their homeland. In Acts 27, the Holy Spirit speaks through Paul while on a sinking ship. He provides God’s comfort to the passengers despite being on the sea in the middle of a huge storm. In each instance, more people come to faith despite the unplanned for events.
The model for following God seems to be more Spirit-led than we are comfortable with. God simply uses the word “Go” when telling Abraham to set out to his new home. Perhaps that is a bit unsettling to us who are planners. Yet it is good to remember the work of Jesus. He also was led by the Spirit as He traveled throughout Israel doing His work. His journeys were not easy, and there are times when he and his disciples did not have food or a place to rest. He calls us to use these instances in our lives to grow in our faith and to trust that God is using us purposefully and will guide us safely to where we want to go.
If I was a betting man, I’d say that all of our routes will experience some type of delay during the National Ride week. (As a member of the executive team, I want to emphasize we are hoping they don’t!) As God did with Paul and the other apostles, He is using the perceived “disaster” for His good. Until we reach heaven, we will never know who was introduced to Christ or the young pro-life movement when they saw the missionaries changing a flat tire on the side of the road or walking into a gas station trying to figure out which wrong turn was taken.
It’s possible you have or are facing a “delay” in your life plans today. Trust in God and His plan. At times it may be difficult, but God is working in all our delays and troubles. The end result will be better than you can imagine!
